


Play Pretend

by cherrybombtriestowrite



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Halloween, M/M, a high school au, mostly just implied, something cute n innocent for once, underaged drinking n smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 04:04:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12573312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrybombtriestowrite/pseuds/cherrybombtriestowrite
Summary: “I died in the war.”“What war?”“You know,” Daniel scrunches his eyebrows as if he is recollecting memories from his imaginary war. He racks his brain for absolutely any piece of knowledge from history class and finally answers with a huff, “that one in Vietnam.”





	Play Pretend

**Author's Note:**

> day 5 of s.o.s’s halloween fic week! hope u like this one even though i changed the idea twice and rewrote it four times lmao and here’s some stuff to note;
> 
> 1\. everyone’s aged down. ongnielminhwan are in high school, maknae line are middle school aged  
> 2\. [this](http://i.imgur.com/jPTxOzN.jpg) is what ong’s outfit looks like, to be clear. cos i’m trash for kang dongwon

_I know I’m not the most handsome person, but surely I’m not invincible?_

“Daniel!”

_I guess my dance skills could be impressive to some, but I don’t think he’s seen me dance._

“Yah, Daniel.”

_If only I was better looking...maybe I would’ve had the guts to approach him._

“KANG DANIEL!”

Snapping out of his long and depressing daze, Daniel looks up to find his friends looking at him. His gaze then falls towards the floor where an empty bottle is rotated towards him. Daniel looks up once more and shrugs. “What?”

“Well, truth or dare?” a cute Daehwi in an angel outfit asks, lying on the floor and propping his head up with his hand. His fluffy halo is crooked now, but his wings look like they’ve always been apart of him.

“Uh…” Daniel scratches his forehead and wonders to himself, _since when did they start a game of truth or dare?_

Daniel was the one who suggested this small Halloween party to his dance academy. They gave him the green light and the younger students were all so excited and thanked him for it. Agreeing to help plan it, he didn’t have the heart to tell them the real motive behind his action.

  


The performing arts high school departments host their individual Halloween parties every year, and Daniel had his plans all laid out. He had decided to attend the theater department’s party instead of his own department this year. The reason behind this is simple: Ong Seongwoo. After seeing pictures from last year’s party of Seongwoo dressed as a vampire and having the time of his life while looking godly, Daniel decided that he needs to see such a thing in real life. But his plan were ruined a week before Halloween, thanks to his friends.

_“I’m going to go as Seo Daeyoung this year.” Jaehwan announced to Seongwoo after the professor dismissed the class. He shares the same vocal class with Seongwoo and Minhyun, in which Minhyun and him act as involuntary spies for Daniel. Nothing much usually happens, so the only thing they can report back is probably what Seongwoo wore to class._

_“Who?” Seongwoo asked._

_Minhyun interrupted and explained, “The second male lead in Descendants of the Sun- didn’t you watch the show?”_

_“I don’t watch TV a lot.”_

_Shrugging, Jaehwan continued, “Yeah, well, Daniel is going as Yoo Sijin since we agreed that he’s the better looking one between us.”_

_“Who?”_

_“Yoo Sijin is the main-”_

_“No,” Seongwoo adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder with a confused look on his face, “Daniel. Who is that?”_

Minhyun insisted that Daniel did not need to know about this but Jaehwan told him anyways. Jaehwan, truthfully, is tired of seeing Daniel pine over Seongwoo from afar for almost two years now. He thought that this piece of hurtful news would cause Daniel to calmly move on, but he clearly does not know how deeply infatuated Daniel is. Disappointed, Daniel announced that he isn’t going to any of the university’s Halloween parties and organized one for the dance academy instead. His friends were all confused by his actions but couldn’t stop him.

Daniel found himself happy to be organizing the innocent party for the academy as compared to the wilder ones the dance department usually holds. Jisung agreed to join in and helped organize a big chunk of it, knowing it could help distract Daniel from being moody over his heart break. But of course - the world does not want Daniel to move on that easily. After a tiring morning of shopping for decorations before the party with Guanlin, Daniel brings him to his favorite dessert store and saw something that turned an otherwise happy day into a horrible one.

While he was waiting for Guanlin to choose what type of bingsu he wanted, Daniel’s eyes darted towards a familiar figure sitting by the window seat of the shop. The familiar figure was indeed the person Daniel has had a big fat crush on since freshman year of college - the triple threat extraordinaire, Ong Seongwoo. What crushed Daniel’s heart into smithereens was the fact that Seongwoo was seating with the prettiest girl in the school, eating a cake together and laughing at whatever they were talking about. It pained Daniel to see how well they looked together and the way he focused on her when she was speaking - it made Daniel look away after a painful 5 minutes.

That memory has been replayed in Daniel’s mind throughout the day with no sign of ever stopping. He tried to distract himself by asking Guanlin to tell him about his life in Taipei, but he kept on spacing out. He even had them seated as far away from Seongwoo as possible, but the presence of the man is enough to disturb Daniel. Guanlin noticed this so he added the fact that he was actually a Kamen Rider who fights evil monsters in his story, and Daniel didn’t even notice.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Guanlin asked, putting his face right in front of Daniel’s because just calling out his name doesn’t work.

It startled Daniel, but he immediately felt guilty for not listening even though he was the one who asked. “I’m sorry, Guanlin-ah. I didn’t mean to space out like that. God, that’s so rude of me-“

Guanlin didn’t mind it at all, telling him how he was saying he once fought Godzilla in Taipei and Daniel didn’t even flinch. Daniel laughed at this and momentarily forgot his worries, but he was reminded of it when they left the store and Seongwoo was still sitting there with his company. Daniel made sure Guanlin blocked his line of sight when they walked, which is pretty dumb but it was for the sake of his sanity.

  


Now the party is an hour in and the kids have started playing pointless innocent games. Sungwoon was dragged by Jisung to join the party as well (quite reluctantly). Daniel finds it impossible to participate in the games, so he resolves to just swim in his feelings and thoughts instead.

“Tru—“ the other boys look at Daniel with faces that say ‘don’t make this boring’, causing him to change his answer, “Oh what the hell- dare.”

“Great! Guanlin should do the honor of punishing this hyung who has been spacing out this whole time.” Daehwi suggests, clapping his hand. Guanlin, dressed handsomely in a chef outfit, claps excitedly at this. His chef hat is on his lap and he has a toy rat clipped to his hair to complete his Ratatouille concept.

Thinking hard, Guanlin is about to dare him with something innocent like doodling a mean comment about their teacher on the mirror of the studio. He is stopped when Woojin and Jihoon (who are both dressed as Michael Jackson in Thriller and Smooth Criminal, respectively) both whisper something in his ears. He lets out an excited laugh before exclaiming, “I dare hyung to walk to the graveyard and sit there for 5 minutes. Alone!”

He is, of course, referring to the graveyard unfortunately situated too close to the studio. It is the bane of Daniel’s existence and the sole reason he takes the long route home when he returns home from the studio late at night. He gulps and is about to shake his head when Guanlin’s excited smile tells him that he should just do it.

“Fuck it - okay. If I don’t come back in 5, assume I’m dead.” Daniel dramatically announces, putting his hands up. He grabs another can of beer with him and walks away with heavy footsteps.

 

The moment Daniel steps out of the academy, he feels a gust of wind sweep past him and he is definitely, _definitely_ sure tonight is the night he dies. One step at a time, he makes his way towards the graveyard unwillingly. He could hear the faint sounds of nearby clubs probably celebrating Halloween as well, which does not make him feel any better because _who will be able to hear me when I’m screaming as dragged into the ground by a zombie?!_

With an expression almost close to tears, Daniel opens the old and creaky gate to the graveyard and takes a deep breath. He steps into a small puddle which gives him a small scare, but he regains his composure again once he remembers that he’s wearing combat boots and not his precious sneakers.

Pulling his outfit closer to his body due to the wind growing suspiciously stronger by the second, Daniel looks around and thinks, _this isn’t so bad_. If anything, he feels slightly at peace right now. It’s odd to think that he needed this alone time, but he’s glad he took up the dare.

Just then, like his eyes are playing tricks on him, he sees a figure sitting on a bench atop the tiny hill with the tree. Due to the bubbling feeling of fear engulfing him as well as the cans of cider he drank earlier, Daniel suddenly gets an overwhelming need to pee. He finds himself gravitating towards the figure who’s facing away from him. The figure moves a little, shifting his hand from his face and smoke comes out of nowhere. Daniel almost scares himself with his thoughts but tells himself that this person is just smoking a cigarette. As he gets closer, he could slightly see the side profile of the person clad in black and-

_Fuck._

_It’s Ong Seongwoo._

It shouldn’t surprise Daniel that he’d meet Seongwoo here, of all places, since he hangs out in this area a lot. There’s a music studio nearby he knows Seongwoo has jamming sessions with his band sometimes (does that make him a quadruple threat?) and his circle hangs out at the one of the clubs nearby too. But of course, there’s no need to know how Daniel managed to obtain all this information (it’s from the 2-year span of observing Seongwoo while he went about his usual activities). What boggles his mind is - _shouldn’t Seongwoo be at the theater department’s Halloween party?_

Moments like these causes Daniel to drift deep into his thoughts of how Seongwoo has always been an unpredictable and mysterious character - judging by the fact that almost everyone around him pressured him to stick to acting but he still wanted to pursue music. He would’ve had it easy if he stuck to being an actor, what with his natural talent and looks, but he chooses to challenge himself. Daniel has always admired his dedication and hard work, which pretty much just worsens his crush on the older male.

If Daniel knew he hung out here, he’d have forced himself to face his fears and take this route home. Even so, his palms grow dangerously sweaty and the night seems chillier than ever. Daniel knows it’s not because he’s scared the dead will suddenly rise - but it’s because of the beautiful living creature sitting a meter away from him.

_Just fucking go for it!_

The inside voice forces Daniel to go ahead and walk towards the bench Seongwoo is sitting on. His heavy strides stop right before the bench and he sits next to Seongwoo, facing the other way. The older male notices his presence and pulls the cigarette away from his lips before turning to look at him. Daniel collects all the bravery he has in him to turn and look at Seongwoo, but he could not even bring his eyes up for an eye contact. Instead, he notices the clergy collar around Seongwoo’s neck. Upon closer inspection, Seongwoo’s outfit is just black slacks and a short-sleeved black shirt (isn’t he cold?!) with a tab collar - _oh. He’s dressed as a priest._

Daniel’s voice almost cracks when he asks, without even looking at Seongwoo, “Smoke break?”

A nod is all Seongwoo answers him with. Daniel should’ve anticipated the lack of response, but he is still a little sad. Before he could quickly bolt and pretend like he did not just striked a conversation with his crush in the middle of a cemetery, Seongwoo asks, “Where were you from?”

“Huh?” Daniel looks down at where Seongwoo is looking at and suddenly remembers the fact that he is in his costume. Even though he decided to not attend the party with his friends, Daniel rented the soldier uniform anyway. It looks older than the type they wore in the TV show, but Daniel didn’t care. He chuckles and answers, “The war.”

Seongwoo’s long and pretty fingers reaches forward to touch the pockets of Daniel’s uniform, inspecting it. Daniel prays to the gods above that Seongwoo doesn’t touch the area near his heart because he would be able to feel the loud thumps of Daniel’s nervous heart. “Wow,” Seongwoo mutters, “it looks real.”

Daniel smiles as an idea enters his mind. Leaning forward as if he bears a secret, Daniel whispers, “That’s because it is.”

Raising his eyebrows, Seongwoo leans forward as well and says, “No way.”

Pursing his lips and holding back a laughter, Daniel nods. He leans back with his two hands supporting him and looks into the distance. “I died in the war.”

“What war?”

“You know,” Daniel scrunches his eyebrows as if he is recollecting memories from his imaginary war. He racks his brain for absolutely any piece of knowledge from history class and finally answers with a huff, “that one in Vietnam.”

Looking at the other with suspicious eyes, Seongwoo’s expression makes Daniel gulp. He is half sure that South Korea was involved in the Vietnam war, so he hopes his memory hasn’t failed him, despite being the absolute worst in history. It’s a wonder that he even graduated. He only picked the Vietnam war because he watches movies about it a lot. _Full Metal Jacket was a great movie, okay!_

“That was a tough war.” Seongwoo finally responses. Daniel lets out the breath he was holding in, glad that his brain is functional when he needs it to for once.

“Yeah, tough.” The blonde scratches his head and looks away to avoid giving himself away.

“How’d you die?”

Blinking, Daniel’s mouth is agape like a fish. He can’t tell if Seongwoo is playing along with it or perhaps the elder is drunk enough to actually believe him. Daniel thinks for a second before replying, “I...got shot?”

The lanky fingers reach forward and touches Daniel’s face this time. Daniel finds himself holding his breath once again. Seongwoo points out, “You’re here, though.”

“I’m a ghost.” Daniel croaks. His feelings shift from one of anticipation to sadness as he remembers the reason he’s even here. He is reminded of how _he is_ a ghost to Seongwoo. 2 years of attending the same school and the man doesn’t even know his name. It might be Daniel’s fault for never having the guts to make himself seen, but he still feels bitter about it.

“A ghost?” Seongwoo asks, the cigarette in his other hand long forgotten since the conversation started.

Daniel nods. “A ghost.”

Finally putting the cigarette back between his lips and taking a long drag from it, Seongwoo then puts it out with his shoes. A chuckle escapes his lips before he mutters, “What a bummer.”

Turning on his butt so he’s sitting in the same direction as Daniel, Seongwoo doesn’t even notice that the other man has his eyebrows raised so high at what he just said. Daniel lets out an awkward laughter and asks, “S-so you’re...a priest?”

The black-haired man gestures a cross and then puts his palms together. He nods and chuckles. “I’m as much a priest as you are a soldier.”

 _Okay, so he isn’t as dumb as I am._ Daniel laughs at the fact that he thought anyone would believe he’s really a ghost, especially the brilliant Ong Seongwoo.

Seongwoo adds, “I stole the tab collar from my dad.”

Eyes wide open, Daniel asks, “Your dad is a priest?”

“Yeah, ironic for someone who has a son like this.”

 _Ironic, because you constantly make me sin in my mind. Can’t believe I still have impure thoughts of you even in that outfit._ Daniel sighs and desperately tries to divert his thoughts to more innocent things. “I thought I made a convincing ghost soldier.”

“I’m not drunk enough for that, sorry.” Laughing, Seongwoo nudges Daniel’s cheek lightly. “Just for tonight, let’s pretend we’re a priest and a ghost, okay?”

Ignoring the fact that he just got his cheek nudged by _the_ Ong Seongwoo, Daniel asks, “Why, in the mood for play pretend?”

“Just because.” Seongwoo shrugs and leans back to look at the night sky. “It’s boring to be me sometimes.”

Daniel desperately wants to tell him that there’s absolutely nothing boring about him, but he holds it back. Instead, he nods and looks down. “Same.” He clears his throat and asks the question that has been bugging him, “So, uh, don’t you have a party to get back to or something?”

“Not really. Do you?”

The blonde shakes his head. He would say yes, but what part of that is rational? Besides, that’s what the kids get for throwing his ass into a graveyard. He wonders why Seongwoo does not want to go back to what must be a great party, but refuses to pry further.

“I’m Ong Seongwoo, by the way.” The priest extends a hand towards Daniel and smiles. “ _Father Ong_ , if you may.”

“I’m,” _-coughs-_ ”private Kang Daniel.” Daniel shakes his hand and hopes the name doesn’t ring any bells in his head.

“Kang Daniel.” Seongwoo mumbles to himself. He smiles and asks, “Do you know anywhere we can escape to? It’s a bit chilly here.”

“I have the keys to my dance academy - I can find us an empty studio.” Daniel immediately replies. It makes Seongwoo happy, which in turn makes Daniel happy. The priest stands up and walks down the hill while looking back to make sure Daniel is following. The soldier hurriedly jumps off the bench and rushes off to walk beside his new friend. Half of him is telling him to go back to the party because this interaction will lead nowhere what with Seongwoo seeing the prettiest girl in school. Even so, the other half is winning this because he desperately wants to know what it’s like to spend time with Seongwoo. Besides, it’s not everyday that he gets to walk and talk with Ong Seongwoo in a priest outfit. As they walk together, he finds that they’re about the same height, but Seongwoo is a little smaller in size.

“You’re Jaehwan and Minhyun’s friend, right?”

Shocked, Daniel holds in a gasp. _He knows I exist_. “Y-yeah, why?”

Shrugging, Seongwoo muses, “Just wondering why it took us this long to get acquainted.”

 _Because you’re too damn intimidating_. “I don’t know either.”

“I’ve seen you around.” Seongwoo scratches the back of his neck and smiles shyly, “Never knew how to approach the dance department’s star.”

“S-star?” Daniel blinks in disbelief. He scoffs and adds, “Says the _whole school’s_ star.”

“Am not.” Seongwoo pretends to moan exasperatedly. “I’m serious, though. Your showcase during freshman year took my breath away. I’ve watched most of your performances and- oh my god, I sound like a fan.”

“Wait.” Daniel stopped walking a few steps back, the new information making him frozen. “I was never the main dancer, though.”

Seongwoo notices this and turns to look at him with a grin. “You stand out when you dance. I don’t think I’ve seen someone move as graceful as you.”

The soldier still stands frozen as he tries to assess the past 2 years and wonder if he hasn’t been paying attention. His hand is tugged so he looks up to see Seongwoo holding his hand and dragging him. The senior whines, “Come on, it’s freezing. You go to the dance academy by that samgyupsal place, right?”

Daniel could only nod as he lets himself be pulled by Seongwoo. He loves the way Seongwoo’s pretty fingers feel against his as well as how soft his palm is. Daniel holds his hand tight and it sends sparks in his heart the way it used to when he interacted with his crushes in elementary school. When they finally arrive at the academy, they look up to see that one of the windows is decorated with Halloween decors and the music and lights are on.

“A party?” Seongwoo asks.

“That’s where I was from.” Daniel answers sheepishly. He opens the door and adds, “I organized it for fun.”

“And what made you think going to the graveyard was better than being here?” The priest chuckles, walking behind him up the stairs.

“It was for a dare.”

They enter an empty dance room Daniel picked and the both of them revel in the warmth. Daniel sits and watches as Seongwoo begins to lightly dance to faint sound of the party going on upstairs. A smile decorates his lips at the sight of a priest dancing, wondering why it fits Seongwoo so well.

“Hey, uh,” Daniel doesn’t want to ruin this perfect moment, but his curiosity has the best of him when he decides to ask, “you know I exist, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you’ve seen me perform and you liked it.”

“You’re an amazing dancer, yeah.” Seongwoo finally stops his dad dancing to sit on the floor next to Daniel. He takes out another cigarette from the carton he keeps in his pocket but puts it behind his ear when he remembers where he’s at.

“Then why didn’t you know my name?”

Silence spreads like a vine in the room, dangerously weaving its way between the two of them. Daniel frowns and internally scolds himself for choosing the worst possible moment to ask this. He takes out the dog tag from inside his uniform and fiddles with it.

A nervous laughter escapes Seongwoo’s lips. He scratches his neck and explains, “My bad. I never actually tried to look up your name.”

“No, it’s fi-”

“Jaehwan and Minhyun mentions a lot of names when they talk to me - and I would have the hardest time trying to wonder which one is you. They’re so vague about it, too. I spent the first year thinking you’re Hong Eunki when they mentioned the graceful modern dance major. Then I thought you were certainly Noh Taehyun...but I was wrong again.”

Daniel cackles.

“Don’t laugh! It frustrated me so much.” Rubbing his forehead, Seongwoo continues, “The other day when they mentioned a ‘Daniel’, I had to ask who that was. I thought I’d see you at the party since Jaehwan said you guys had an outfit planned together, but…”

“Sorry.” Daniel winces at how badly his misunderstood the situation. He mutters, “You could’ve just checked on SNS-”

“I don’t do SNS. I’m a boring guy like that.” Seongwoo shrugs.

Silence fills the air once more but is quickly sliced when Daniel quietly asks, “Don’t you have anyone waiting for you at the party?”

Scoffing, Seongwoo shakes his head. “What makes you think I do?”

“I don’t know, I thought you and Jiyeon-”

“Are you talking about the bingsu cafe?” Seongwoo’s laughter echoes in the room, causing confusion on Daniel’s side. He explains, “She owed me food for setting her up with my friend.”

They end up staring at each other, a smile on Seongwoo’s face and the doubts on Daniel’s face that’s slowly disappearing. Seongwoo sighs and says, “All this confusion wouldn’t have happened if I had just approached you.”

“That’s what I tell myself too.” Daniel mutters, pouting at the fact that he should’ve just trusted his guts and boldly introduce himself to Seongwoo. He lies down on his back and puts his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. _I guess I don’t mind that we end up knowing each other this way. Fate always finds a way--_

Daniel’s thoughts are halted when he feels a weight on his shoulder and limbs wrapping itself around him. He looks down and a blush creeps on his face seeing Seongwoo hugging him like a koala. His (so much smaller in this proximity) head rests on Daniel’s broad shoulder comfortably as if it is a pillow. Daniel puts his right hand down and slowly puts it on Seongwoo’s shoulder, hoping it isn’t uninvited.

“This is alright, right?” Seongwoo suddenly asks. Daniel hums affirmatively, rubbing Seongwoo’s back happily. Soon enough, the both of them manage to close their eyes despite the excitement of being in each other’s arms.

  


“But hyung, it’s only 12.”

“Wasn’t your curfew at 11:30?”

“Yeah, but who cares.”

“Your parents are going to beat my ass, so I care.”

Jisung ushers the kids out of the studio, making sure to lock it with his copy of the keys. He hasn’t attended the academy ever since he scored a teaching gig last year, but he still owns a copy of the keys just because. He decided to end the party early because it’s been an hour and he is genuinely worried of Daniel. Sungwoon left earlier because he decided that watching Woojin fail miserably at charades is _not_ how he’s spending the rest of his Halloween night.

“Hyung, the dance space downstairs has the lights on.” Woojin points out, looking past the railings on the way down the flight of stairs. Jisung frowns at this because the lights should be off because no one should be using it at this hour.

“Someone’s in there!” Jinyoung plasters himself to the glass door and points inside. “Isn’t that Daniel hyung?”

The other kids fasten their pace and clamor around Jinyoung, looking into the room. They collectively gasp and whisper to each other only to be pushed aside by Jisung. “What are you guys going on about--”

Jisung is about 90% sure that he’s seeing Ong Seongwoo sleeping on the floor with Daniel. The blonde is curled into a ball and resting his head on Seongwoo’s stomach with the jacket of his soldier uniform used as a pillow for Seongwoo. A smile forms on Jisung’s face, delighted at how the night turned out for Daniel.

“Hyung, is that priest homeless?” Daehwi asks, genuinely worried.

Groaning, Jisung pulls them out of the academy with him. “That’s not Daniel hyung. Those are ghosts.”

The kids shriek as they run down the stairs, trying not to trip over each other.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if it's too cute n innocent lmao i hope u liked it tho!!!
> 
> s.o.s has a twitter this time so make sure to follow us for updates! @ ongnielsos
> 
> n u know the drill i'm on twtr @ defseongwoo and on curiouscat @ curiouscat.me/ganjanamja


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